User blog:Mhazard/The Old Blood - Hunter's Handbook
The Old Blood Chapter 1: http://tes-sandbox.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:103813 Chapter 2: http://tes-sandbox.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:109238 Chapter 3: http://tes-sandbox.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:116817 Background The bloodline of the Dragonborn was believed to be ceased by the time of 4E 240, the day when the Dovahkiin, which is known as the Last Dragonborn, was gone. However, since the year of 5E 001, the Septim Bloodline has been brought back to life by a presence dwelling in the Imperial City Chapel, from the Church, across the entire Cyrodiil. The year is 5E 015, a new religion of Cyrodillic Chapel, known as the Healing Church, has been experimenting on the resurrection of Septim bloodline. They took an era to extract and replicate the dragonblood from the corpse of Uriel Septim VII, and transplanted onto patients suffering from a lycanthropy diseases which can disfigure the patient into crude beasts, in the hope of curing the patients with the replica of sacred blood. It gifts the patients unusal power, capable of comprehending lost languages, utilizing the Thu'um without training, and yet, Cyrodiil has changed since, as reports about disfigured beasts are spread across Tamriel, causing havoc in residential area, and eventually, went into an uncontrollable state which the wild are overrun by the said beasts. Their rival Abkommen Sect, on their other hand, is a group of Necromancers worshipping the unknown cosmic entities known as the "Great Ones", led by an undead hunter "Namrheg Retnuh Tsrifeht", who recently became the emissary of the Great Ones. They took the opportunity of Beast Plague to preach their teaching, as well as modifying the Septim Blood into somethin different, in the hope of becoming Daedra so they can communicate with the Cosmic Knowledge. The Abkommen Sect and the Healing Church are known to rival against each other, they disregard the lives of Cyrodiilic people and openly preach their teaching with bloodsheds. Accelerating the destruction of Cyrodiil. Since then, from Imperial City to Cheydinhal, the cities are being overrun by beasts and conjointed undead. What's making it worse is the Imperial City is sealed with a ward, none knows what crude rituals were being conducted inside. Since the day when the Septim Blood replica are widespread throughout Imperial City, activities of lycanthropy and vampirism are getting more dire, to a stage both the Dawnguards and Silver Hands are no longer able to handle them alone. This is the Age of Blood, the people of Tamriel are becoming heavily reliant on blood. Be it recipes, alcohol, medicines, all are reliant on the presumed Septim Bloods. There is almost no exception. Even for prostitution, people sell blood instead of sex. Cyrodiil has changed... One day, you are invited by a nameless organization to partake a hunt against the beasts around Cyrodiil, how would you live until the morning sun comes again? What's behind the Septim Blood? And what is the true nature of the Dragonborn? It is left to you to discover. "Seek the Old Blood" ---- Rules 1. Standard RP rules, however this is free RP. 2. You cannot be any of the race below: *Divines and Daedra, they're too large to fit in the story *Dovah, they are extincted since 5E, at least what we believed *TES Protagonists, they are all deceased *Septim Blood vials must be obtained on your own in game 3. Your characters are not protected from death, however they may return as an undead (zombie) for unlimited amount of time, with the exception of characters who are soul trapped, they die permanently. 4. charged Black Soul Gems can be used for resurrect an undead back into the living, and everyone can cast Soul Trap defaultly, Soul Trap doesn't require spell slot and Conjuration skill. 5. You can create as many characters as you like, just make sure you can handle them. 6. Aside from your normal gears and spells, you can give your character two original weapons and custom spells as well, just don't make them too strong. 7. Unlike most RPs, attacking on other player characters is highly encouraged, especially for recharging Black Soul Gems. 8. Please refrain from killing other player characters in one post, at least allow them to retaliate for at least three times before landing a killing blow. 9. Powerplaying and Metagaming are strictly forbidden. 10. For the settings in detail, see below 11. Other than that, enjoy the hunt. ---- Glossary Abkommen The Abkommen Sect, also known as Men of Accord, is a mysterious sect founded by Namrheg Retnuh Tsrifeht, a dreadful Necromancer who's obsessed with celestial beings. Other than the fact they openly rival against the Healing Church and having already taken control over Imperial City, there's no clear records about them. According to the Old Hunter Namrheg, the Abkommen were once the Necromancers who worked on extracting the Blood of Uriel Septim VII, and lately betrayed the Church. Their goal is to seek evolution by ascending into Daedra. Abkommen means "Accord". The Sect is known for extracting multiple blood samples aside from Uriel Septim VII, it is said they already mastered the knowledge of the Great Ones and they aim to become the Great Ones themselves. They are shown to have connection with Mythic Dawn and Order of the Black Worms, as they primarily used both their basis on their modified Blood Transfusion, as well as resurrecting the deceased members and modifying them into artificial Daedra. The Accord, also known as Abkommen Anchorites, are the high ranking members of Abkommen Sect, they appeared to be injected with Daedric Blood in order to ascend into Great Ones, Namrheg and his lieutenants have proven their success, as evidenced by their abilities to utilize Oblivion Gates at will, possessing corpses, modifying Daedra, controlling mind or even altering weathers. Beasts They are disfigured, mutated creatures, while the form of Lycanthropes and Vampires are common, they can also appear as enormous abominations which people can hardly describe, or small creatures which can possess people's mind. While the beasts are said to be mindless, they do possess a sense of sentience. It is said a Beast's creation was due to the lack of insights, and they are not limited to Lycanthropes and Vampires, sometimes Daedra and Undeads are included. A Beast can be cured, only within the first day of transformation by killing it, extracting the Beast Blood from the Beast and resurrect the body with a charged Black Soul Gem. Black Soul Gems The Black Soul Gems contains humanity, the Black Soul, it is said to be capable of resurrecting the deceased people, but only when the corpses are intact and not infected by the plague. However, the Black Soul Gems they break, the more unseen horrors will be unsealed since people would remember the sealed pasts. Blood The essence of life, since the rediscovery of the Old Blood from the corpse of Uriel Septim VII, people are demanding the blood of the Septim to be blessed. As a result, Blood has replaced water as a sort of drink. This is unrelated to vampirism, but merely a mean to hydrate one's throat. Chalice The Chalice is a portal between the mortal realm and the Great Ones' Realms, which generates a randomized dungeon with the materials stired and combined, it is essentially a part of Oblivion Realm. The use of different materials leads to different realms. One thing for sure is, the three basic materials are the Blood, charged Black Soul Gems and a Daedra Heart. Some said the Chalices were portable replicas of Oblivion Gates created by the Choir, while their rival, the Accords can actually access Chalice Dungeons without any chalice nor ritual materials. Choir High ranking members of the Healing Church, they are relatives of the earliest branch of the church, unlike the generic members, they possess the knowledge of the Great Ones and capable of utilizing it. Generally, they enter the Great Ones' realms with a specially made chalice filled with The Old Blood. It is no secret they once wore red robes. Colossal Black Soul Gems The Black Soul Gems which created a ward outside Imperial City, there're eight Colossal Black Soul Gems in total, and one of them was broken. The only way to enter the Imperial City is to break these Black Soul Gems. However, these Colossal Black Soul Gems are also what sealed people's knowledge and memories, the more we break, the closer to the cosmic truth. Great One Also referred as "Celestial Beings", these unknown entities have the power equal to the Divines, and both the Healing Church and Abkommen Sects are competing to beckon one of them so they can be blessed by the Great Ones, So far, people in Cyrodiil considered the Moon and the blood of Uriel Septim VII were the presence of the Great Ones. Aside from the Moon, embodiments of certain presences can also be considered as legitimate Great Ones as well, the two known examples are Sithis and the Ideal Masters. Great Ones are neither benevolent nor malevolent, they are merely watching and maintaining the cosmos. Most of them rarely interfere Tamriel aggressively, with the exception of the Moon Presence, which openly invades people's mind and grant them cosmic knowledge recklessly. Oddly enough, while the Daedric Prince Herma Mora shared characteristics of a Great One, he is not a legitimate Great One, and was the first Daedric Prince to be consumed by the Moon Presence. Healing Church The Healing Church is a secret society found by Henryk Pillips Lockheart. Dwelling under the Cyrodiilic Chapel, they extracted the Old Blood from the corpse of Uriel Septim VII, and transplanted onto patients suffering from a lycanthropy diseases which can disfigure the patient into crude beasts, in the hope of curing the patients with the replica of sacred blood. The Choir, the elite members of the Healing Church on the other hand actively communicate with the Great Ones to gain insights. They used the blood granted by the Great Ones instead of Uriel Septim VII to "bless" the patients, this indirectly resulted in the creation of Beast Plague. Kin The Great Ones' servants, these people are injected with the Old Blood, but resulted in being modified with Daedric properties. While they are disfigured, they possess high intelligence and capable of utilizing arcane arts in the form of Blood. They behave like Great Ones instead of Beasts. It is said the creation of the Kins are due to excessive insights. The correct term is however, "Sosahkiin" (Sos-Ah-Kiin, Blood Hunter Born), since the Kins are born by the Old Blood. Mages Guild The Mages Guild Hunters are people dedicated to hunt Beasts with various Arcane Arts, and they are in pursuit of greater knowledge, recently, a person called Hannibal Traven, who dressed like a woman, has reformed the Mage Guild with the funding from an old hunter. Their heavy distaste to Healing Church implies they are allied with the Abkommen Sect, some even speculated the Mages Guild was indeed Abkommen Sect in disguise. Moon Presence Main Article: Moon Presence Most Great Ones are docile, and they do not interfere Tamrielic business as they see both Tamriel and Daedric Prince as trivial dust. However, a couple of them aggressively manipulate the lifestyle of Tamriel merely for their self interest while the people blindly worship them. The Moon Presence, also known as "Man, or some says Mann" is the most famous Great One across Tamriel, it was considered as a God of Death and Moon, yet none can describe or comprehend it other than the Red Moon behind it. Unlike most Great Ones, the Moon Presence was originated from Tamrielic heritage rather than the other parts of Nirn. "When the Moon hangs low and the anchors landed, the salvation would come" Hunter The people who partake the hunt against the Beasts, they are mostly organized by self voluntary. The Hunters hunt beasts for various goals, some seek for the Gold for their livelihood, some seek for the Old Blood from the Beasts for their self interest, and some seeks to end the Beast Plague. It is up to the Hunter to decide what goals to seek, as there is no standard. Commonly, the Hunters tend to rely on "Sword And Crossbow" combat style and avoid using shield as they consider shields engender passivity and they did no help against Beasts and Daedra. The first Hunter ever existed in Tamriel was Gehrman First-Hunt, he predicted one day, the Moon would make attempts to take over the entire Tamriel. In order to ward off the Great Ones, he injected himself with the blood of the Great Ones. He was however taken over by the Old Blood. Old Blood Replica of the Blood of Uriel Septim VII, brought back to life by the Healing Church, it grants the users unusual powers and knowledge, including the ability to use Thu'um without proper trainings, ability to read both Ancient Nordic Languages and Daedric Letters. This is however, under a great cost. Even so, people has been seeking for the Old Blood to experiment on it, hoping to end the Beast Plague once and for all. Another theory suggests the Old Blood also include blood from deceased people and Daedra, this belief was employed by the church's rival, the Abkommen Sect. It is a common belief the Old Blood belonged to the Great Ones, the Healing Church sees it as the Blood of Dragonborn, while Abkommen Sect sees it as the Blood of the Daedra. While the Old Blood can grant one insight and capable of resurrecting dead cells, the side effect is too heavy it becomes a plague. Plague The Plague, or the Beast Plague, is a global disease which plagued the entire Cyrodiil. It turns people into malformed beasts in a rapid spread, general belief stated that the Beast Plague is contacted by Beast Blood. As such, people either avoiding ingesting Beast Blood, or mix it with alcohols to purify the blood. Yharnam The untold ancient land in Nirn existed way before the First Era, it was the age where Beasts wander everywhere and the Hunters hunt Beasts for blood. The land along with the cultures of Yharnam were ceased, and eventually, a new civilization was formed above the ruins of Yharnam, and the land was renamed "Tamriel", thus began the First Era. ---- Beast Hunting Guide 1. Beast Hunting heavily relies on the hunter's agility, shields are rarely used as they engender passivity. Instead, the Hunters in Fifth Era tend to carry a crossbow or staff at offhand to parry off the Beasts with its stopping power 2. The Hunters are agile, they can step sideward and roll regularly to dodge the beasts' attacks. Hit & Run is almost a regular basis. 3. Always seek for the weak spot to strike onto, by doing so, one can stagger a beast effortlessly. 4. Offhand Crossbows and Staves can parry off a beast's pounce if one calculated the correct timing, once parried, the Hunters can land a deadly riposte onto the beasts, impaling them for good. 5. Beasts varies in multiple forms, the mainstreams are Lycanthropes and Vampire, but they can also appear as disturbing abomination, such as a cluster of giant maggots coiling a living person, or a giant Mudcrab with a lot of eyeballs on it, it really varies by situations. 6. Never forget to cremate or dismember the beast corpses to prevent their possible mutations. 7. The Hunters can die easily and may become an undead, however, death is trivial, as the art of Black Soul Gems can always resurrect a fully intact undead back to life. 8. Failure is a lesson, trials and errors leads to inspirations and insight. 9. Humanity has ceased, you may do as you like as no one cares moral standard, be it killing and pillaging souls from the living, or to overkill, it is up to the Hunters. 10. Soul Trap spell is inherently carried by all Hunters in Fifth Era, it does not require Conjuration school to be learnt, as it is a common knowledge in the public. ---- Chalice Ritual Recipes The Chalice is a portal between the mortal realm and the Great Ones' Realms, which generates a randomized dungeon with the materials stired and combined, the use of different materials leads to different realms Basic Ritual: *Blood Vial x1 *Black Soul Gem (Black) x1 *Daedra Heart x1 ---- Articles *Burial Blade *Calvus * Gyula Powder-Keg *Henryk Berlioz *Gehrman First-Hunt *Laurence Wolcott *Moon Presence *Thordar Guts-Gone ---- Comments feel free to leave comments and suggestions below. Category:Blog posts Category:The Old Blood